Molybdenum oxides and uses thereof

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure describes, among other things, new layered molybdenum oxides for lithium ion battery cathodes from solid solutions of Li 2 MoO 3  and LiCrO 2 . These materials display high energy density, good rate capability, great safety against oxygen release at charged state due mostly to their low voltage. Therefore, these materials have properties desirable for lithium ion battery cathodes.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application No. 61/708,963, filed Oct. 2, 2012, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

Today, three main types of insertion materials are being studied as lithium ion battery cathodes, the so-called nickel manganese cobalt-based layered oxides, nickel manganese-based spinels, and iron-based olivines. While each class has its own strengths, none are ideal. Nickel manganese cobalt-based layered oxides offer high energy density, but have questionable safety and poor rate capability. Manganese-based spinels, on the other hand, have good rate capability but low specific capacity, low energy density, and poor cycle life at high temperature. Lastly, iron-based olivines are cheap, safe, and show good cycle life, but have low gravimetric and volumetric energy density. Therefore, searching for novel and improved cathode materials is important for the lithium ion battery industry.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts X-ray powder diffraction patterns of Li(Li_((1-x)/3)Mo_((2-2x)/3)Cr_(x))O₂.

FIG. 2 depicts the 1st cycle charge/discharge curves for Li(Li_((1-x)/3)Mo_((2-2x)/3)Cr_(x))O₂.

FIG. 3 depicts galvanostatic charge/discharge profile of planetary ball milled Li(Li_(0.233)Mo_(0.467)Cr_(0.3))O₂.

FIG. 4 depicts discharge capacity vs. cycle number plots for planetary ball milled Li(Li_(0.233)Mo_(0.467)Cr_(0.3))O₂ and Li₂MoO₃.

FIG. 5 depicts a crystal structure of Li(Li_((1-x)/3)Mo_((2-2x)/3)Cr_(x))O₂.

FIG. 6 depicts a TEM image of the carbon coated Li(Li_(0.233)Mo_(0.467)Cr_(0.3))O₂.

FIG. 7 depicts a voltage profile of carbon coated Li(Li_(0.233)Mo_(0.467)Cr_(0.3))O₂.

FIG. 8 depicts discharge capacity vs. cycle number for Li₂MoO₃, Li(Li_(0.233)Mo_(0.467)Cr_(0.3))O₂, and C-coated Li(Li_(0.233)Mo_(0.467)Cr_(0.3))O₂.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS

The present disclosure describes, among other things, new layered molybdenum oxides for lithium ion battery cathodes from solid solutions of Li₂MoO₃ and LiCrO₂. These materials display high energy density, good rate capability, great safety against oxygen release at charged state due mostly to their low voltage. Therefore, these materials have properties desirable for lithium ion battery cathodes.

I. Compounds

The present disclosure encompasses compounds of the formula: Li(Li_((1-x)/3)Mo_((2-2x)/3)Cr_(x))O₂,

wherein 0<x≤0.5. In some embodiments, x=0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4. or 0.5. The terms “compound” and “solid solution” are used interchangeably in the present disclosure.

It will be appreciated that in addition to the compositions described herein, the present disclosure encompasses the use of dopants, additives, and/or the presence of impurities in any of the described compositions and uses thereof. In some embodiments, one or more dopants are selected from the group consisting of nickel, cobalt, manganese, iron, titanium, copper, silver, magnesium, calcium, strontium, zinc, aluminum, chromium, gallium, germanium, tin, tantalum, niobium, zirconium, fluorine, sulfur, yttrium, tungsten, silicon, and lead. This is a non-limiting list; other dopants, additives, or impurities are possible. In some embodiments, a dopant, additive, or impurity can be mixed into these compounds to improve properties such as rate, safety, etc, without substantially modifying the chemical nature of the compound.

In addition, during the synthesis of compounds described herein, some loss of lithium may occur, resulting in a substoichiometric amount of lithium relative to the other elements in formula Li(Li_((1-x)/3)Mo_((2-2x)/3)Cr_(x))O₂. In some embodiments, such compounds deficient in lithium are of formula Li_(((4-x)/3)-w)(Mo_((2-2x)/3)Cr_(x))O₂, wherein 0≤w≤0.2 and w represents a lithium deficiency. The present invention encompasses such lithium deficient compounds, materials comprising such compounds, and uses thereof.

II. Experimental Procedure

i. Solid Solutions

To prepare Li(Li_((1-x)/3)Mo_((2-2x)/3)Cr_(x))O₂, Li₂CO₃, MoO₂, and Cr₃(OH)₂(OOCCH₃)₇ were used as precursors. A 5% excess of Li₂CO₃ from the stoichiometric amount needed to synthesize Li(Li_((1-x)/3)Mo_((2-2x)/3)Cr_(x))O₂ (x=0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4) was used to compensate for possible Li loss during high temperature solid state reaction. The precursors were dispersed into acetone and ball milled for 24 hours and dried overnight to prepare the mixture of precursors. The mixture was fired at 1050° C. for 15 hours under Ar gas, and manually ground to obtain the final products. For the comparison, Li₂MoO₃ was synthesized using Li₂CO₃ and MoO₂ precursors. Again, a 5% excess of Li₂CO₃ from the stoichiometric amount was used to compensate for Li loss during the high temperature firing. The mixture of Li₂CO₃ and MoO₂ for Li₂MoO₃ was prepared by using the same ball milling method and fired at 750° C. for 6 hours under a mixture of H₂ (3%) and Ar (97%) gas.

For structure characterization, a Cr-source Rigaku X-ray diffractometer was utilized. For electrochemical tests, Swagelok cells were assembled under Ar atmosphere in a glove box. The cathode was composed of 80 wt % of Li(Li_((1-x)/3)Mo_((2-2x)/3)Cr_(x))O₂ (x=0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4), 15 wt % of carbon black, and 5 wt % of PTFE. For some samples, instead of hand mixing, planetary ball milling at 500 rpm for 2 hours was adopted to mix the active material and carbon black to decrease the particle size of the active material. 1 M of LiPF₆ in 1:1 ratio of EC:DMC solution was used as an electrolyte, and Li metal foil was used as the anode.

ii. Carbon Coating

Sucrose (C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁) was used as a carbon precursor, and it was mixed in a planetary ball mill with Li(Li_((1-x)/3)Mo_((2-2x)/3)Cr_(x))O₂ (x=0 to 0.3) in weight ratios between 90:10 and 70:30 of active material to sucrose. Then, the mixture was annealed between 400° C. to 800° C. for 2 to 6 hours under Ar gas. The annealed compound was ground manually with a mortar and pestle and mixed with carbon black and PTFE binder for the electrode preparation.

III. Experimental Results

FIG. 1 shows the XRD patterns of Li(Li_((1-x)/3)Mo_((2-2x)/3)Cr_(x))O₂ (x=0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3). The solid solutions between Li₂MoO₃ and LiCrO₂ have R-3m space group which both Li₂MoO₃ and LiCrO₂ share. X-ray coordinates for selected compounds are provided in Appendices A and B.

FIG. 2 shows the 1^(st) cycle galvanostatic charge/discharge profiles of Li(Li_((1-x)/3)Mo_((2-2x)/3)Cr_(x))O₂ (x=0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3) when the materials were cycled between 1.5 V and 4.3 V at C/20 rate (1C=339 mA/g for x=0, 336 mA/g for x=0.1, 332 mA/g for x=0.2, 327 mA/g for x=0.3). The initial charge and discharge capacity greatly increases as x increases from 0 to 0.3. Notably, the x=0.3 compound shows very high initial discharge capacity around 240 mAh/g, which is approximately twice the capacity of pure Li₂MoO₃ (x=0). Kobayashi et al. (J. Power Sources, 81-82, 524-529 (1999)) tested the electrochemical properties of Li₂MoO₃ (x=0), and obtained a specific capacity about 100 mAh/g at C/20 rate. Comparing the performance of Li₂MoO₃ from Kobayashi and Li(Li_((1-x)/3)Mo_((2-2x)/3)Cr_(x))O₂ (x=0.1, 0.2, 0.3), it is clear that Li(Li_((1-x)/3)Mo_((2-2x)/3)Cr_(x))O₂ (x=0.1, 0.2, 0.3) performs much better than Li₂MoO₃ both in specific capacity and energy density.

FIG. 3 shows the galvanostatic charge/discharge profile of Li(Li_(0.233)Mo_(0.467)Cr_(0.3))O₂ when milled with carbon in a planetary ball mill, and cycled between 1.5 V and 4.1 V at C/10 (1C=327 mA/g). The profile shows that this material is using 64% of its theoretical capacity (327 mAh/g) stably. Integrating the area of the 1^(st) discharge curve reveals that this material delivers a gravimetric energy density of 525 Wh/kg, which is as high as that of LiFePO₄ (560 Wh/kg) and higher than that of LiMn₂O₄ (400 Wh/kg) at the decent rate of C/10. The gravimetric energy density is converted to volumetric energy density by multiplying the density of the material to the gravimetric energy density, yielding 2140 Wh/1 for the planetary ball milled Li(Li_(0.233)Mo_(0.467)Cr_(0.3))O₂, which is higher than that of both LiFePO₄ (2000 Wh/1) and LiMn₂O₄ (1720 Wh/1).

FIG. 4 shows the discharge capacity vs. cycle number plots for both Li₂MoO₃ and planetary ball milled Li(Li_(0.233)Mo_(0.467)Cr_(0.3))O₂ when they were cycled between 1.5 V and 4.0 V at various rates. Comparing the discharge capacity between the two materials, planetary ball milled Li(Li_(0.233)Mo_(0.467)Cr_(0.3))O₂ shows much better electrochemical behavior than un-doped Li₂MoO₃. The planetary ball milled Li(Li_(0.233)Mo_(0.467)Cr_(0.3))O₂ shows higher specific capacity for every charge/discharge rate as well negligible capacity loss even at higher rates.

Carbon coating was found to improve the cycling performance of Li(Li_(0.233)Mo_(0.467)Cr_(0.3))O₂, especially when carbon coated Li(Li_(0.233)Mo_(0.467)Cr_(0.3))O₂ was cycled between 1.5-4.3V vs. 1.5-4.0V. Un-coated Li(Li_(0.233)Mo_(0.467)Cr_(0.3))O₂ has shown observable capacity fading while carbon coated Li(Li_(0.233)Mo_(0.467)Cr_(0.3))O₂ shows negligible capacity fading as well as higher discharge capacity upon cycling.

In addition to carbon, other coatings may also be used in accordance with the present invention. For example, by way of nonlimiting example, a coating may be selected from a member consisting of MgO, Al₂O₃, SiO₂, TiO₂, ZnO, SnO₂, ZrO₂, Li₂O-2B₂O₃ glass, phosphates, and combinations thereof.

FIG. 7 shows the voltage profile of the carbon coated Li(Li_(0.233)Mo_(0.467)Cr_(0.3))O₂ when it was cycled between 1.5-4.3V at C/20 rate. Very high specific capacity of 248 mAh/g is seen at the 4^(th) discharge, and 222 mAh/g at the 10^(th) discharge. Integrating the area of the 4^(th) discharge voltage profile reveals that this carbon coated Li(Li_(0.233)Mo_(0.467)Cr_(0.3))O₂ can deliver high specific energy density of 603 Wh/kg (2850 Wh/1) which is a larger value than that of LiCoO₂ (540 Wh/kg, 2640 Wh/1), LiFePO₄ (560 Wh/kg, 2000 Wh/1), or LiMn₂O₄ (400 Wh/kg, 1720 Wh/1).

FIG. 8 shows the discharge capacity vs. cycle number which summarizes the effect of Cr-doping and the effect of carbon coating to the Cr-doped Mo oxide. While not wishing to be bound by any particular theory, Applicants suggest that carbon coating is protecting transition metal dissolution at highly delithiated states as well as improving kinetics by decreasing the charge transfer resistance of Li(Li_(0.233)Mo_(0.467)Cr_(0.3))O₂.

XRD data

No. Pos. [°2 Th.] d-spacing [Å] Height [cts] Li(Li0.233Mo0.467Cr0.3)O2 1 26.79744 4.94066 2204.231 2 26.84409 4.94064 1098.915 3 55.29761 2.46714 78.1554 4 55.31062 2.46661 934.7767 5 55.4001 2.46714 38.89364 6 55.41313 2.4666 465.2796 7 57.77902 2.36975 260.5747 8 57.88697 2.36975 129.6544 9 67.08288 2.07203 1602.63 10 67.21258 2.07203 797.845 11 73.64794 1.91018 235.7865 12 73.79443 1.91017 117.2686 13 88.28115 1.64395 28.36495 14 88.47106 1.64394 14.115 15 90.3529 1.61414 158.0834 16 90.54982 1.61414 78.68771 17 100.7205 1.48672 273.6597 18 100.9569 1.48672 136.4141 19 104.972 1.44336 303.3892 20 105.2271 1.44336 151.3094 21 111.487 1.38517 175.4971 22 111.7747 1.38517 87.563 23 128.1597 1.27293 24.88489 24 128.5636 1.27293 12.43417 Li(Li0.3Mo0.6Cr0.1)O2 1 26.59898 4.97685 5394(216) 2 26.64533 4.97682 2687(114) 3 54.89956 2.48363 213(62) 4 55.00125 2.48362 106(25) 5 55.29517 2.46724 1454(119) 6 55.39772 2.46724 723(74) 7 57.73351 2.37146 489(90) 8 57.84142 2.37145 243(54) 9 66.92961 2.07622 2324(174) 10 67.059 2.07622 1156(102) 11 73.42109 1.91524  476(103) 12 73.56707 1.91524 237(64) 13 87.57216 1.65453  81(82) 14 87.75984 1.65452  40(56) 15 89.93337 1.62005  357(106) 16 90.12896 1.62004 178(69) 17 100.1668 1.49271  591(128) 18 100.401 1.49271 295(81) 19 105.0075 1.44302  506(121) 20 105.2629 1.44301 252(78) 21 111.4442 1.38552  365(117) 22 111.7318 1.38552 182(77) Li(Li0.267Mo0.533Cr0.2)O2 1 26.67623 4.9627 2934(196) 2 26.72266 4.96268 1462(102) 3 55.03277 2.47808 117(50) 4 55.13469 2.47808  58(15) 5 55.29687 2.46717 1108(127) 6 55.39936 2.46717 551(78) 7 57.74431 2.37105  350(107) 8 57.85217 2.37105 174(64) 9 66.97249 2.07505 1844(180) 10 67.10192 2.07504  918(105) 11 73.48546 1.9138  317(116) 12 73.63152 1.9138 158(72) 13 87.79231 1.65122  44(100) 14 87.98062 1.65122  22(52) 15 90.05252 1.61836  224(117) 16 90.24842 1.61836 111(77) 17 100.3231 1.49101  376(144) 18 100.5578 1.49101 187(92) 19 104.9573 1.4435  386(147) 20 105.2123 1.4435 192(91) 21 111.4136 1.38578  256(142) 22 111.7008 1.38577 128(91) 23 127.391 1.27712  48(145) 24 127.7881 1.27712  24(81)

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Bosch and Umicore. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An electrochemically active compound of the formula Li(Li_((1-x)/3)Mo_((2-2x)/3)Cr_(x))O₂, wherein 0.25≤x≤0.35, wherein the compound is characterized in that it allows reversible charging and discharging.
 2. The compound of claim 1, wherein x is 0.3.
 3. An electrode material comprising at least one compound of claim
 1. 4. A solid form of a compound of claim 2, having an X-ray powder diffraction pattern as shown in FIG. 1(d).
 5. A coated electrode material comprising a compound of claim
 1. 6. The coated electrode material of claim 5 having a coating comprising a member selected from the group consisting of carbon, MgO, Al₂O₃, SiO₂, TiO₂, ZnO, SnO₂, ZrO₂, Li₂O-2B₂O₃ glass, phosphates, and combinations thereof.
 7. The coated electrode material of claim 6, wherein the phosphate is selected from the group consisting of AlPO₄, Li₄P₂O₇, and Li₃PO₄.
 8. The coated electrode material of claim 6, wherein the weight ratio of carbon to total MgO, Al₂O₃, SiO₂, TiO₂, ZnO, SnO₂, ZrO₂, Li₂O-2B₂O₃, and phosphates is y:1−y, wherein 0<y≤0.2.
 9. The coated electrode material of claim 6, wherein the coating thickness is no greater than 10 nm.
 10. An electrode composition comprising carbon black, a binder, and the coated electrode material of claim
 5. 11. The electrode composition of claim 10, wherein the coating of the electrode material prevents or lessens electrode transition metal dissolution.
 12. The electrode composition of claim 10, wherein the binder is PTFE.
 13. The electrode composition of claim 10, wherein the weight ratio of coated electrode material to carbon black to binder is v:z:1−v−z, wherein 0.3≤v≤1, 0≤z≤0.7, and 0.3≤v+z<1.
 14. A lithium battery comprising the coated electrode material of claim
 5. 